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Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

Sorry Oz, I must correct you; it is an extraordinary boat; I mean really, really wrong. It's history and the cast of characters involved will make for high comedy as a made-for-TV movie, but the reality is tragedy in the eyes of the buyers. It would better serve as a large planter parked in front of a Fifties Diner.

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

Some people on this forum, and others, don't like the fact that I tell the truth and am critical about some boats

For example, I was asked not to write on the CF because I said the Dean cat was badly built and a horrible sailer (I had visited the factory, spoken to owners and sailed one so I wrote knowing something about the design). I looked at that forum a couple of days ago and saw a sad story by an owner who had awful build problems with the keels on his Deancat

So I shall continue to tell the truth as that way I hope people get the best boat to suit their needs

Unless we are all wrong and are thinking of a different boat then I agree, this is a boat to avoid. I expect if you google forums and news stories from about 6 years ago you'll find out why.

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

There was a long thread about this boat somewhere else, some time ago that covered a complete set of building and design sins: inexperienced workers, antiquated (Jetson wedding cake styling) design, unremittant low-balling and just plain weirdness. The intent was to deliver a cat for less than Dick Smith's Gemini, with more dubious "Luxury" features and frighteningly under spec'ed rigging.

Of course, I'm trying to be fair, but these were the observations of people who seemed to know what they were talking about. I read that it made it to a US boat show, and found no market. If it eventually sold, someone surely came to regret owning it at any price.

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

so why does the owner say its only been used a few times in 6 years? A basically new 39ft cat for USD149000, but "make offer" should set alarm bells ringing

Richard Woods

I find this alarming from a personal perspective.

Looking at the site Richard has indicated, I would never guess that this boat is in any way so seriously sub-standard as you have indicated. Not what I would like, true. Needing a good deal doing, yes. However I would have been totally taken in by the description and the pictures.

Oh dear! I didn't realise I am so ignorant, or maybe just so gullible!

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

I've seen the boat of which y'all were speaking. Seems to me to be a well built, comfortable cat. I will be sailing her later this month and I'll report back. There's a lot of cat there for the money. Nice features like retractable outboards, generous cabin sizes, dual heads and a massive saloon.

Some of you expressed uncertainty whether the negative statements you posted were about this specific Multihaven 39 Cat. Have any of you confirmed that this is, in fact, the boat on which you commented?

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

There can't be more than one. To confirm this write down the serial number molded into the starboard transom and post it here. You could check the USCG Registry for that number and one or two before and after it.
If Richard Woods says its a stinker, it stinks.
Like a Hollywood set, you can make anything look good with fiberglass. but you can't fake rigging. Before you go sailing, look at a Gemini, take pictures of the standing rigging turn buckles, running rigging blocks, shackles, etc. Compare those to the equipment on the Multihaven where you will see rust on the (nearly)stainless steel, undersize shrouds and stays, and spider cracks around stanchion bases, turning blocks, etc. Trace the steering from the wheel to the rudder posts. Compare it to the Gemini, which you should consider the absolute minimum size and quality for a 34' boat. Guessing at the weight of the Multihaven, it should have rigging two sizes larger. If not, think deathtrap. Find a place where you can see the hull-deck join. I'm betting you will find great globs of mastic between rust tracks. Walk the decks and floors feeling for soft spots. These will be future failures.

Catamarans cost a lot of money, even the bad ones, because there will always be "underfunded" dreamers. You will probably be talking to one who is hoping to pass along the opportunity to learn a painful lesson, unless he is the original investor.

Single hull sailboats are designed to lean over and dump excess wind. Catamarans don't. So their masts and rigging have to be much sturdier than monomarans.
Fiberglass is relatively cheap, and doesn't require long apprenticeships from its builders. Once its laid up and cured, it can hind a host of inadequacies undetectable to all but the trained ear of a surveyor. Get one. He will cost over $500 and be the very best insurance you can buy.

Then go look for a good old Gemini or Prout. The Gemini will handle most of the conditions you might encounter in near Coastal waters, where you can scoot into protected waters before the weather turns sour, and is a very good sailor. The Prout is a tank that has taken its crew everywhere, in even horrible weather, at a steady and stately pace. The Multihaven is neither. If it has a safe occupation it must be as a dubious dwelling chained up at a backwater dock well shielded from weather extremes, occupied by very good swimmers with a sense of humor.

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

Sandy, thanks so much for the pointers. I wonder, on what info do you base your conclusions? Personal knowledge? Articles or published info? Doesn't seem as though there are many of these boats around. Have you actually seen this particular boat? Mystery is in Hampton, VA.

Re: Multihaven 39 Cat

I was working at Chesapeake Catamaran Center when this boat was shown at Annapolis, and toured it (with a flashlight) I've owned 5 cruising cats from a PDQ 32 to a Chris White Atlantic 42, and helped other owners maintain their boats while I was Commodore of SoS. I've been in and around boats fifty years, and have seen a number of quirky One-Offs as well as a couple of extremely well designed boats that were too rich for the sub 40 foot market. I've built in and repaired with fiberglas enough to know when something was built better than I could. Or not. What's important here is a safety issue. I'm particularly sensitive about that: I was an accident investigator at the NTSB for 25 years.